New Zealand Restricts India and Takes the Spotlight
With India’s successive wins during the five-day T20 cricket series against New Zealand, the Black Caps were able to take the spotlight by winning during the 1st and 2nd ODI series.
New Zealand defeats India by taking a total of four wickets during the 1st ODI three-match series at Seddon Park in Hamilton. Ross Tayler was able to chase down the runs with Henry Nicholls and Tom Latham contributing a total of 348 runs with 11 balls to spare. As they continue to progress, Taylor restricted India under 350 and secured that the Kiwis are in a strong position until the end of the match.
‘It was nice to get across the line. Restricting them under 350 gave us a chance in the match. It has been a happy hunting ground for me. It was nice to be there at the end after I got out thrice towards the end in the T20 series’, Taylor said.
‘A great performance by the lads. We saw today how hard it is to defend with the left-right combination. It’s nice to make winning contributions. The way Ross Taylor played was fantastic. We weren’t quite where we wanted to be with the ball so we need to improve there’, Lathan added.
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During the second ODI at Eden Park in Auckland, the Black Caps successfully defeated the Men in Blue once again by scoring a total of 22 runs. Proving their skills, New Zealand defended a total of 273 runs restricting India to 251 in 48.3 overs.
The partnership of Taylor and Kyle Jamieson who just made his international debut turned the tables upside down. However, it was still a tight match between the two teams as Ravindra Jadeja kept pinching singles with Navdeep Saini protecting the stumps of the Men in Blue.
On the other hand, Jadeja set a new record for India by hitting his 7th fifty batting at No.7 surpassing MS Dhoni and Kapil Dev. Jadeja and Saini’s partnership was also recorded as the second highest 8th wicket stand for the Men in Blue against the Black Caps in ODIs.
Jadeja is an all-rounder who plays for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League (IPL) who became a top-ranked bowler in 2017, while Saini was the leading wicket-taker of Delhi during the 2017-18 Ranji Trophy and 2018-19 Vijay Hazare Trophy.
‘Two good games, and it’s great for the fans. I’m impressed with how we finished. We let things slip away from 197-8 to 270+ in the first half but came back strongly with the second half of our batting. We were in trouble with the bat, but Saini and Jadeja played really well, as did Shreyas. ODIs aren’t too relevant this year compared to Tests and T20s, but to find people who can play that way under pressure is a big revelation for us and a big plus. We could consider changes in the final game since we have nothing to lose now. We’ll play expressive cricket and not worry too much about the result. It’s up to the individuals to fight till the end’, Virat Kohli stated.
Squad:
New Zealand: Martin Guptill, Henry Nicholls, Kane Williamson (capt), Ross Taylor, Tom Blundell, Tom Latham (wk), James Neesham, Colin de Grandhomme, Mark Chapman, Tim Southee, Kyle Jamieson, Hamish Bennett, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi, Blair Tickner, Scott Kuggeleijn.
India: Prithvi Shaw, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli (capt), Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Manish Pandey, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Shivam Dube.
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